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Crime News Breaking News

Kentucky Man Indicted For Murder Of Savannah Spurlock, Who Disappeared After Leaving A Bar

Savannah Spurlock's body was found buried on David Sparks' parents' property.

By Jill Sederstrom
Savannah Spurlock and David Sparks

A Kentucky man has been indicted for murder in the death of Savannah Spurlock, a mother of four who disappeared in January after leaving a Kentucky bar with three men.

The Garrard County grand jury opted to charge David Sparks, 23, with murder, abuse of a corpse, and tampering with physical evidence after Spurlock’s body was discovered in July buried in a shallow grave on his parents' property, the Louisville Courier Journal reports.

Sparks was one of three men Spurlock was captured on surveillance footage leaving a Lexington bar with in early January.

Her family — who grieved for months without answers about what happened to the missing mom — is still faced with lingering questions about why the 22-year-old was killed.

“I want to know why? Why did he do this to her?” her mother, Ellen Spurlock, told local station WDRB. “I mean I can’t even imagine anybody doing that, killing somebody. I mean, you know, he didn’t even know her.”

A Facebook page devoted to remembering Spurlock also released a statement Wednesday after news of the grand jury’s indictment.

“Nothing about this situation is positive or happy, as that face has haunted our nightmares for a long time. But we are one step closer to #JusticeforSavannah,” the statement read on the “Remembering Savannah” page. “We have known that this man has been the primary suspect for a long time, one reason our pleas focused on the Garrard County area. Savannah had a beautiful life ahead of her that was stolen away.”

Sparks had been interviewed by investigators shortly after she disappeared, along with the other two men seen leaving with her in the early morning hours on January 4. However, it wasn’t until Spark’s father told his attorney that he smelled a foul odor on his property that the body would be discovered in July.

Spurlock was discovered naked and wrapped in trash bags buried just below the ground. Kentucky State Police Detective Tye Chavies said last month that the body had been folded in half and was in an “unnatural position.”

Authorities have not yet released how the young mom died.

Sparks told investigators during his initial interview that Spurlock had woken him up in the morning to ask the address of the home where he was staying at the time as if she was planning to leave. He told police he went back to sleep and when he woke up she was gone.

However, investigators later found evidence of blood in the inside of a closet.

Sparks was initially arrested for his alleged involvement with Spurlock’s death in July, shortly after the body was found. No charges have been filed against the other two men.

Sparks is scheduled to be arraigned September 6.